


Swipe Right

by lizandletdie



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 03:08:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11614620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizandletdie/pseuds/lizandletdie
Summary: Based on a Reddit post.Mulan is not interested in a blind date, so Belle borrows it.





	Swipe Right

Belle was more than a little tipsy, but it was fun as hell. Her friend Ariel had thrown a party at her apartment, and Belle was sitting on the sofa with her friend Mulan flipping through guys on Tinder for her. They were drunk and giggling, and it was going to be a good time.

“What about this one?” Belle asked, flashing the phone to her friend. “He’s cute.”

Mulan wrinkled her nose and tilted her head to the side as she considered the man on the screen.

“I dunno,” she said. “He has really prominent teeth.”

“You’re kidding,” Belle said as she looked at the phone. “How can you even tell from this photo? His mouth is closed.”

“He looks like the type. Swipe left.”

Belle rolled her eyes, but she rejected the guy anyway.

“Sooner or later you’re going to have to swipe right on at least _one_ of them.”

“I don’t want to compromise my standards, though. I don’t think I should have to settle!”

“It’s not _settling_ , it’s accepting human flaws. Why not just give me a list of your dealbreakers and must-haves and let me pick a couple?”

“Fine,” Mulan replied, sipping her drink. “Do you have paper anywhere?”

They scrounged up a pen and the back of a cable bill, and within half an hour Belle had a list to work from. There was still some work to find a guy who fit _every_ requirement on the list with none of the downsides, but at last she found one and swiped.

“Say hello to your new boyfriend,” Belle said before realizing Mulan wasn’t even listening to her. Whatever, Belle was bored and this guy was apparently online, so she sent him a message. It might be a little forward, but Belle was tipsy and didn’t mind making the first move if she had to. Well, if Mulan had to.

It started easy enough. He didn’t freak out, which was always a risk when you messaged a guy. Some of them really got their dicks in a bunch about girls being ‘forward’ and it drove Belle up a wall. They exchanged messages on and off throughout the evening. He was really easy to talk to, and Mulan _had_ to like this one – he was so charming! He also had a wicked sense of humor that had her giggling at the phone. Of course she needed to set up a date for Mulan, and he was free the next weekend.

“Are you done with my phone now?” Mulan asked, dropping down onto the sofa.

“Just about,” Belle replied. “You’ve got a date on Friday.”

“ _What_?” Mulan exclaimed, snatching the phone from Belle’s hands. “What did you do?”

“He met all your requirements!”

Mulan was scrolling up through the conversation and looking slightly terrified and Belle suddenly felt kind of bad. Not a lot, but kind of.

“It’s just a date,” Belle said. “You don’t have to marry the guy, just meet him for coffee.”

“I’m not going,” Mulan replied. “You can’t see his body in any of these pictures. That’s never a good sign.”

“Are you kidding me?” Belle asked, taking the phone back. “Why do you care that much?”

Mulan shot Belle a nasty look and Belle decided to back off. Whatever Mulan had going on, it wasn’t really Belle’s business. She watched as Mulan deleted the conversation and tucked the phone back in her pocket before returning to her friends.

It was a damn shame to have lost this guy, though. Belle had liked him even if Mulan hadn’t, and it seemed like a waste to have a date with him that Mulan wouldn’t be going on.

 

It took Belle until she sobered up the next morning to realize that she also had Tinder on her phone, too. She pulled it up and started swiping around, but no luck. She spent the rest of the day flipping through the app on and off before finally realizing that they definitely didn’t get matched on the app. It was disappointing, and she probably should take it as a sign. Or, she could be needlessly obstinate about it. After all, she knew where he’d be on Friday night.

The coffee shop she’d arranged to meet him at was one of her favorites, and when she walked in she felt weirdly powerful and in control. He looked exactly like his picture sitting in one of the booths. She’d known that Mulan’s concern about the lack of body pictures had been unfounded and now she had proof of it. Belle took a deep breath and walked up to his table as confidently as she could.

“Hi, are you Justin?” she asked with a big, disarming smile.

“Oh, um, no, unfortunately not,” Samuel Gold replied. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” she said poutily, looking around as though there was actually a Justin there for her to meet. “I guess he hasn’t shown up yet.”

“My date isn’t here yet either,” he said, although of course she’d known that. “These blind dates are always awkward to start.”

“Yeah, I’m always worried they won’t show.”

“He’d be an idiot not to,” Samuel said earnestly. “I wouldn’t worry so much about it.”

“Thank you,” she said, pulling out a seat at the empty table next to his. “Do you think it would be off-putting if I was reading when he showed up?”

“If it is then he’s not worth it.”

That was the answer she’d been hoping for and she reached into her purse and took out a book he’d mentioned on his Facebook page and that she’d seen while stalking him before accepting the date on Mulan’s behalf. His eyes flicked to it briefly and she saw the flash of recognition at what she was reading.

“Have you read that before?” he asked, nodding towards it.

“Not yet, I’ve heard good thing though so I thought I’d give it a try. Have you read it?”

“It’s one of my favorites,” he replied. “How far in are you?”

“Only a couple chapters,” she said. “I just got to the part where they go to the Grand Canyon.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s when it really starts to get good.”

He looked so excited to be talking about the book that she knew she’d made a correct choice in showing up for this. It was so easy to talk to him and he seemed to like her, too, because he didn’t even checked his phone to see what time it was or check for missed messages for almost an hour.

“I guess we’re both getting stood up,” he said once he did finally check the time. “Tinder must be the worst way to actually get people to show up for dates that I’ve ever seen.”

“Yeah, but I guess it’s just how it is when you’re single these days, you know?”

“To be honest, I just started dating again after my divorce,” he said. “I know you’re not supposed to talk about those things on dates, but I’m still adjusting to everything.”

“You’re doing great,” Belle said. “You’re putting yourself out there and that’s the important thing.”

“Thanks. What about you? What’s your story?”

“Nothing special. Just a girl on her own looking for a mystery to uncover.”

He smiled and she was struck at how nice he looked. She was so glad that Mulan had turned him down.

“I gotta say,” she continued. “This is probably the nicest time I’ve ever had being stood up.”

“Me too, although I honestly can’t figure out why anyone would stand you up.”

“Oh, you know how people can be,” she said, trying to avoid discussing the fake date any more than she had to. “It’s not a big deal. I’m sure it’s his loss. Anyway, let me give you my number, okay?”

“I’d like that a lot,” he said, watching her grab a napkin and write her number on it. She was pretty sure this could really be something special if she played her cards right.


End file.
